I think she should stick with Mura if she can. In a just few weeks under him, she basically erased her UR issue (only one triple jump in her last 4 performances got dinged (her opening 3F-2T at nationals)). I think she needs a polisher, a la John Nicks but not John Nicks. Someone to really give her that presence and command that she needs to make people take notice...that also ties into her programs and packaging. I like her SP this year and her FS isn't bad either. I thought she gave more personality in her FS at nationals but the program was cleaner at COR b/c she stayed in time with the music. Her nationals FS seemed incomplete b/c she was breathing her way through the program, focusing on keeping herself calm, which was fine IMO b/c she needed to skate cleanly and she did. She can't do that every time though, which is why she needs someone to tighten everything up and help it flow better.

If she continues to skate I'm sure she'll find a coach. But for now her dance coach seems to have a calming influence on her. At 4CC in 2011 she was there instead of Frank and Mirai skated lights out in the FS. Hopefully she'll travel with her to 4CC this year too.

Given her problems with the USFSA, I think she needs an American coach, or at least a coach who works in the US.

I think she should stick with Mura if she can. In a just few weeks under him, she basically erased her UR issue (only one triple jump in her last 4 performances got dinged (her opening 3F-2T at nationals)). I think she needs a polisher, a la John Nicks but not John Nicks. Someone to really give her that presence and command that she needs to make people take notice...that also ties into her programs and packaging. I like her SP this year and her FS isn't bad either. I thought she gave more personality in her FS at nationals but the program was cleaner at COR b/c she stayed in time with the music. Her nationals FS seemed incomplete b/c she was breathing her way through the program, focusing on keeping herself calm, which was fine IMO b/c she needed to skate cleanly and she did. She can't do that every time though, which is why she needs someone to tighten everything up and help it flow better.

If she continues to skate I'm sure she'll find a coach. But for now her dance coach seems to have a calming influence on her. At 4CC in 2011 she was there instead of Frank and Mirai skated lights out in the FS. Hopefully she'll travel with her to 4CC this year too.

That's a fair critique of Alyssa's skating. But it maybe asking too much if her coaches to turn her into a skate with abandon-type skater they worked with who she was and managed to get her to trust in her technique and training at least for one season. A minor miracle for Alyssa in my mind. Whether they would be good for Mirai, who knows? Earlier in Mirai's career I had hopes that she would be one of those rare mixes of good athleticism and artistry but it hasn't quite panned out.

She had a number of jumps that were borderline in her last two competitions that weren't called < as well, though, so I don't think you can say her UR problems are "gone". With a stricter tech panel, she may have gotten 3T<+3T< in the SP at Nationals and a couple other of her jumps were close throughout the week (and at CoR).

All of her jumps looked pretty good to me. If there had been even a shadow of a doubt that she'd URed a jump, she would have been dinged. We all know Mirai gets zero favors in the technical caller's eyes which makes me think if she'd URed them, they would have been called. There's no reason to think she was dealing with lenient tech panels...not across two competitions in two different countries. She's not landing her jumps completely backwards every time but to say she went from URing two or three triples per skate to having only one called in the last 4 programs, give credit where credit is due. That looks like an improvement to me. I guess 4CC will tell the tale...

I always wondered if California was a little too distracting for Mirai. Easy to concentrate on being a fun American teen girl, rather then an elite level athlete. She seems more focused since being in Japan.

I'd be happy to see her continue where she is, though an American coach with pull in the USFSA might be helpful at times.

How about Kori Ade and Rohene choreographing? Jason would be a good training partner too

snip
IMO Mirai needs an acting coach. She needs to stop the department store dummy act when she is skating, because it is killing her PCS scores. Judges expect to see facial expression during a program, not the same blank face from beginning to end. From their perspective, Mirai isn't doing much"Interpretation", and executing jumps and spins without bringing out the character in the music is not fully "Performing".snip

If facial expression is important to the judges, how did Johnny Weir ever have any success? He had a poker face from day one (well, since the first time I ever saw him skate at nationals, Boston 2001??). His excuse was always, "I skate for myself".

I agree, Mirai definitely needs a coach. She's a beautiful skater. But she's done a lot of coach switching over the years. Maybe the word is out about her (amongst coaches)?

In what world has she done a lot of coach switching? She was with Carol from roughly 2008-2012. There is no proof whatsoever that their split was anything but amicable and caused by distance. Then, didn't she go straight to Amy Evidente and that team? Now granted, she had a bit of a 'combo' situation there where she had Amy (I think) as the primary coach and 2 other 'secondary' coaches, but that's not so different than Ashley's current arrangement. Then this year, after nearly 2 years, she left Amy. I don't know how many times she switched coaches before 2008, but this doesn't scream of frequent and reckless coach switching to me. I can name several skaters off the top of my head who have had a lot more coaching switches than one (hopefully soon to be two as she finds a real coach) since 2008.

This is basically a rumor, something people like to say to diss Mirai even though no facts support it. People also like to say that coaches split from her because she is soooo difficult, but there is nothing out there substantiating that either but posts on the forums, and in fact evidence such as it is, is that Mirai has left her coaches not the other way around, and that the split from Carol at least was indeed amicable.

If anyone can factually say something I said above is wrong, then please let me know.

I just think Mirai needs a coach in the U.S however I think training in Japan is good for she seems more relaxed and focused and she needs a sponsor from Japan. She also needs a new choreographer and a coach that focuses on jumps to help her correct her UR problem.

Other coaches in California she could try are Tammy Gambill, Karen Kwan/Peter Oppegard, Tiffany Chin. The Kwan/Oppegard ice rink isn't that far from the LA suburbs if you consider the traffic she has to get through for the el segundo rink. She's also friends with Ricky Dornbush so Gambill could work.

Would love to see her work with Jason Brown's team for choreography or better yet Sarah Kawahara.

As far as her splits, the Frank Carroll split was just distance. He was all in the way in palm springs. Wendy Olsson said she was in her last year of coaching and probably felt that Amy Evidente was enough after last season. I have no idea about the Amy Evidente split. But nothing was about Mirai not working hard except for the first month she worked with Frank.

How about Kori Ade and Rohene choreographing? Jason would be a good training partner too

I thought this too! I actually started a thread suggesting this over the weekend. A lot of people read it but no one responded... I'll chock it up to everyone's brains occupied by the actually skating lol!

I could see being in the Colorado environment being great for her, and if the personalities match Kori, Rohene and Mirai could be a very interesting pairing. And with a third place placement at Nationals that might finally give her some of the funding she's been lacking to be able to make a move like that. And it certainly would stretch out of her comfort zone.

I always wondered if California was a little too distracting for Mirai. Easy to concentrate on being a fun American teen girl, rather then an elite level athlete. She seems more focused since being in Japan.

I'd be happy to see her continue where she is, though an American coach with pull in the USFSA might be helpful at times.

How about Kori Ade and Rohene choreographing? Jason would be a good training partner too

That is exactly what I have been thinking. I think it would be a perfect environment for her. Also she needs to work on her endurance.

That is exactly what I have been thinking. I think it would be a perfect environment for her. Also she needs to work on her endurance.

I agree. I do think she has done well under Mura though, I read in an article that the USFSA didn't like her training in Japan? Does anyone know if that's true? Yuzuru trains in Canada and Japan sea ok with that. If Mirai does well in Japan why would it mattered where she trains? I

I've wondered this too - although she obviously had some arrangement to train in Japan and Arizona. She said at one of the press conferences that she would look for a coach after Nationals. I remember reading in one of the articles that she had said she 'needed to get away' or move away from her 'comfort zone' for a while when she went to train in Japan and Arizona - I took that to mean to get away from her parents.

If she can afford it, I think that a move away from home would be good for Mirai whether it's Japan or somewhere Stateside. But if she wants to go on she's got to make decisions very soon, even before the Olympics. She should be working towards the summer competitions, getting better choreography, eventually getting the 3Lz-3T back into her arsenal. I read reports that she was landing Salchows beautifully in practice at Nationals - this tells me she can still do them. And if she can, with hard work, a 7 jump program is not out of her league. I just hope that she sits down like Ashley and Carolina seemed to and really thinks hard about what direction she needs to take if she wants to go on. I hope against hope that she will also receive some financial assistance from some kind sponsor/s to help take the burden away from her parents. One can dream.

Originally Posted by chuckm

Yuka Sato is in Detroit. That would mean moving to Detroit from California. I don't think Mirai has the money to do that.

IMO Mirai needs an acting coach. She needs to stop the department store dummy act when she is skating, because it is killing her PCS scores. Judges expect to see facial expression during a program, not the same blank face from beginning to end. From their perspective, Mirai isn't doing much"Interpretation", and executing jumps and spins without bringing out the character in the music is not fully "Performing".

And she needs a decent choreographer, but that costs money, too. Her FS has no transitions other than crossovers and the choreography is all but nonexistent. That hurts her PCS, too.

I've disagreed on a lot of subjects with you chuckm when it comes to Mirai - but on this we are simpatico. I agree 100%. While I think Mirai turned it on at Nationals better than she has in years, I'm not so blinded by love for Mirai to not see that she still isn't the Mirai of 2010 'Pirates of the Caribbean' when she was really emoting and selling her programs effortlessly.

Mirai has said training in Japan was a dream come true for her. I'm hoping some kind sponsors in Japan maybe might help her make this dream a long-term reality.

As to those who referenced coach-jumping - that isn't something new and many skaters have done it. Wagner and Rippon to name two.

Originally Posted by samson

I thought this too! I actually started a thread suggesting this over the weekend. A lot of people read it but no one responded... I'll chock it up to everyone's brains occupied by the actually skating lol!

I could see being in the Colorado environment being great for her, and if the personalities match Kori, Rohene and Mirai could be a very interesting pairing. And with a third place placement at Nationals that might finally give her some of the funding she's been lacking to be able to make a move like that. And it certainly would stretch out of her comfort zone.

But WHO KNOWS!

Training at altitude would certainly help Mirai to improve her endurance.

Originally Posted by MK's Winter

I agree. I do think she has done well under Mura though, I read in an article that the USFSA didn't like her training in Japan? Does anyone know if that's true? Yuzuru trains in Canada and Japan sea ok with that. If Mirai does well in Japan why would it mattered where she trains? I

I've never heard of this before - do you have a link to this article? I'd be interested to see what they said about it.

I've wondered this too - although she obviously had some arrangement to train in Japan and Arizona. She said at one of the press conferences that she would look for a coach after Nationals. I remember reading in one of the articles that she had said she 'needed to get away' or move away from her 'comfort zone' for a while when she went to train in Japan and Arizona - I took that to mean to get away from her parents. If she can afford it, I think that a move away from home would be good for Mirai whether it's Japan or somewhere Stateside. But if she wants to go on she's got to make decisions very soon, even before the Olympics. She should be working towards the summer competitions, getting better choreography, eventually getting the 3Lz-3T back into her arsenal. I read reports that she was landing Salchows beautiful in practice at Nationals - this tells me she can still do them. And if she can, with hard work, a 7 jump program is not out of her league. I just hope that she sits down like Ashley and Carolina seemed to and really thinks hard about what direction she needs to take if she wants to go on. I hope against hope that she will also receive some financial assistance from some kind sponsor/s to help take the burden away from her parents. One can dream. I've disagreed on a lot of subjects with you chuckm when it comes to Mirai - but on this we are simpatico. I agree 100%. While I think Mirai turned it on at Nationals better than she has in years, I'm not so blinded by love for Mirai to not see that she still isn't the Mirai of 2010 'Pirates of the Caribbean' when she was really emoting and selling her programs effortlessly. Mirai has said training in Japan was a dream come true for her. I'm hoping some kind sponsors in Japan maybe might help her make this dream a long-term reality. IMO Mirai needs an acting coach. She needs to stop the department store dummy act when she is skating, because it is killing her PCS scores. Judges expect to see facial expression during a program, not the same blank face from beginning to end. From their perspective, Mirai isn't doing much"Interpretation", and executing jumps and spins without bringing out the character in the music is not fully "Performing". snip If facial expression is important to the judges, how did Johnny Weir ever have any success? He had a poker face from day one (well, since the first time I ever saw him skate at nationals, Boston 2001??). His excuse was always, "I skate for myself". I agree, Mirai definitely needs a coach. She's a beautiful skater. But she's done a lot of coach switching over the years. Maybe the word is out about her (amongst coaches)?

Coach-jumping isn't something new and many skaters have done it. Wagner and Rippon to name two. Training at altitude would certainly Mirai improve her endurance. I've never heard of this before - do you have a link to this article? I'd be interested to see what they said about it.[/QUOTE]

I can't remember the article and someone said it too. I'll search for it and post the link.

I thought this too! I actually started a thread suggesting this over the weekend. A lot of people read it but no one responded... I'll chock it up to everyone's brains occupied by the actually skating lol!

I could see being in the Colorado environment being great for her, and if the personalities match Kori, Rohene and Mirai could be a very interesting pairing. And with a third place placement at Nationals that might finally give her some of the funding she's been lacking to be able to make a move like that. And it certainly would stretch out of her comfort zone.

But WHO KNOWS!

Actually this is a fantastic idea. Currently Jason is the only elite skater at his rink in Coloraldo due to Kori
being unable to get Jason access at World Arena to train with Max,Josh and company. Kori is also a very celebral personality, so I think that would help Mirai greatly. And come on, who wouldn't love having Jason as a training partner? His sunny personality would be wonderful for Mirai!